Tag Archives: water decals

Just a super quick post tonight as I’ve got some chores to catch up on so that we can run out sometime tomorrow to get my hubby a rash guard. He and I are headed to the beach in Moalboal for a kid-free day-trip on Saturday to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary! Yay! I’m super excited and we are both looking forward to some snorkeling, kayaking and lazing about.

I thought I’d show you a few of the quick and easy nail art ideas I came up with using the Caronia Shades of Summer Collection (See my swatches and review here).

First up is First Crush with a bit of subtle stamping using Color Club Eternal Beauty. This is an extremely easy way to add a little something extra to your nails.

Next, I added a water decal I purchased from Hokee to add a funky contrast for my accent nail. Fun, don’t you think?

I saved my least favorite of this bunch for last. I try and try again to love stickers for a quick nail art fix. But stickers really seem to be a hit and miss for me. Honestly the local brand, Wish, is always a miss for me. These didn’t want to cooperate, had bits of glitter on them, and I can clearly see the line from the edge of the sticker. That really bothers my OCD self. They looked pretty cool though.

I told you it would be a quickie! That’s all for today. I hope you are all having a wonderful week. Just two more days until the weekend y’all! You can do it!!!!

Howdy!
I’ve got a fun skittle mani to share today. I wanted to try out my Pretty Nifty Thrifty water decals as an accent mani. So I used one of the “Streaks” decals on my ring finger. Each set includes 12 decals which is enough for one full set of nails with a couple of extras for accent nails. Check out my review of these great decals to see my application tips. I did an ombre with the rest of the nails and added some triangle studs I just purchased. I think this looks really cool. Don’t you? I received a bunch of compliments on them.

I used a coat of white under the water decal to keep the colors vibrant. I’m not sure why I can’t get the decals to photograph as clear as they look IRL. But they really do look great.

If you are following me on Instagram you already know this… But Pretty Nifty Thrifty is generously sponsoring a giveaway (open to Philippine residents only). Three lucky winners get their pick of 3 sets of decals as a prize. All you have to do to join is follow @thenailinator and @prettyniftythrifty on IG, repost the picture about the giveaway with #pntgiveaway, and tag a few friends. What are you waiting for? Go! Go! Go! Winners will be announced on Sept. 20!

I’ve got something super cool to share with you today! If you don’t have a very steady hand for nail art or don’t have much time to spare but want some awesome looking nails, then full-nail water decals are a must try for you. Pretty Nifty Thrifty contacted me asking if I would like to try some of their nail decals. Of course, I said yes! They have so many gorgeous designs to choose from. Just look at how awesome these are! I’ve received a ton of compliments on them.

I chose these 3 designs to try: (L to R) “Streaks”, “Hippie Feathers”, and “Peacock 1″. Keep an eye out for the other two designs in the near future.

Pretty Nifty Thrifty sells each sheet of 12 nail decals for Php80 (about $2) and have a “Buy 6 get 1 free promo”. Twelve decals per sheet means you can get a full manicure from one sheet plus 2 extras to use as accent nails on another manicure. They will even do customizable decals (Php120 or $3), too, which means you could get practically any design you wanted made.

The decals come with instructions but here’s the gist with a few tips from me.

Base coat: The instructions say to start with a white base coat to keep the colors vibrant. The decals are not completely opaque so this is a must if you want the colors right.

Prepping your decals: There are 3 sizes of decals. Use scissors to cut along the thin black outline and check the size against your nail. The smallest size fit my pinky nail perfectly, the middle size fit my middle fingernail and the biggest fit my thumb nail. For my index and ring finger, I used scissors to trim a little bit off the sides of the middle sized strips and that worked just fine.

Getting those pretty decals on your nails: Each decal needs to be dipped in a bowl of water for a few seconds. This allows the decal to slide off the paper. They should not be hard to slide off. If it gives you trouble, soak a bit longer. These decals are thin so handle with care. Before placing the decal on your nail, wipe off any excess water to prevent bubbling under the design Then place the decal on your nail and line it up along the cuticle line. Press down along the length of nail to keep it in place. The decals are not sticky but will cling to your base coat. If one gets put on crooked, just get it wet again to pull off and reposition.

Finishing up: The instructions say to use nippers to clip any excess hanging over the free edge of your nail. I highly recommend doing this if you have pair of sharpened nippers. If you use nippers that aren’t sharp, you may end up tearing your decals. If you don’t have nippers, you can just cut it close to the edge with scissors and apply your top coat. The top coat will melt the design to the base color and any part of the decal hanging over the edge will melt enough to use an orange wood stick to pull off any excess. Or you can wait for the top coat to dry and file off any excess and touch up the clear coat on the tips to make sure your decals don’t try to peel up.

Wear time: I’ve been wearing these for 5 full (and very busy) days now and they wear about the same as my regular nail art. Add another coat of top coat after 2 or 3 days to make it last longer.

Over all, I am very impressed!
The selection is great and this design looks amazing on my nails.
Check out Pretty Nifty Thrifty on Facebook or on their Instagram account to see all they have to offer. It’s not just decals. I saw just the other day that they also sell nail foil glue which I haven’t been able to find anywhere! Must. Buy. Some. Soon!

Have you tried these decals before? Let me know if you have any questions about this product.

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I decided to take a blogging hiatus as we visited our family and loved ones in Texas. We had an amazing trip filled with much fun, laughter and lots of love. We are back in Cebu now, and have (mostly) gotten over the jet lag. I’ve been unpacking, dusting and cleaning everything! I’m about ready to get back to blogging. I’m going to have to find a new rhythm as we also just started our school year. I am continuing to home school and my boy is starting 1st grade. Fun, fun, fun!

Anywhoooo… While the blog has been on stand-by, I HAVE been posting stuff on my Instagram account. In case you don’t follow me on Instagram, I thought I would share some of the very simple looks I have been sporting the past 3 months. I appreciate you sticking around despite my absence on the blog. I decided to soak up as much family time as possible with those we see so rarely. I have lots of new goodies to share with you as I get back into the swing of things. Lemmings were CRUSHED!

I’m showing you my submission for the Lacquer Legion theme for today which is “Reinvention”. This mani applies in two aspects because:
1. I used a polish over some decals to make it work for me.
2. I am wearing a look I have NEVER worn and NEVER EVER thought I would. Would you just look at that visible nail line (VNL)? And would you believe that I LOVE it?!?!

This is two very easy coats of San San Tea Rose. I think this may be the only exception to my severe case of VNLphobia. But I will definitely be more open minded from now on and give a polish a chance to win my heart like Tea Rose did. The accent nail is a full nail water decal I purchased from My Online Shop on Facebook. I added a coat of Tea Rose to make it match the other nails.
The combination of my nail shape, the floral pattern and the dusty pink just screams vintage romance. Don’t you think?